User:Sabina Fluturas/Movie Piracy

Motion Picture Association, or MPA, describe movie piracy as the hold, copy or unauthorized use of copyright materials  without permission.

History
The history of movie piracy is related with the always advancing technologies. The video, DVD and Internet have played a significant role in the possession and sell of movies illegally.

The movie piracy started along with a process known as  ripping . This development consisted in the filming of the movies played in the movie theatres, with video cameras used by the pirates. The only issue with this procedure was the low quality sound obtained via the camera' s microphone because all of the background noise could be heard too. Even so, once the movie was recorded, it was uploaded to the Internet.

In order to find a solution to this problem, the pirates synchronised the ripping with a second recording. These synchronizations make use of professional microphones without the movie theatre audience. They are captured directly from de cinema sound system or radio FM  transmissions. This way, they achieved to improve de audio quality.

Another method of movie piracy consists in making a copy of the promotional DVDs. The movie companies tend to launch promotional recordings with one single purpose, to distribute the material to movie critics and for the movie industry staff to see it in advance. Movie pirates, then, remove the message ''Licensed for promotional use only. Sale is prohibited.'' and release it as a DVD.

As we see, the digital era has made way to a big number of methods to steal. Nowadays the TV connections provide the most common way of movie piracy. A TV subscription, a copy of a digital transmission and the HDTV rippings are more and more popular thanks to satellite advance and high definition TV (HDTV). This quality can even be better than a DVD's.

Number of pirated movies
According to a study of El Observatorio de la piratería, carried out by the consultant GFK demanded by the Coalition of Creators and Industries of Contents, during 2015 a total of 876 million movie were pirated, a superior number compared to the one of the previous year.

The Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) published a detailed report on piracy titled  The cost of piracy  were it unfolds information like: the countries with most downloads and illegal movie purchases. These are: China with a 90% of illegal copies, followed by Russia, Thailand and Hungary with more than 75%. Between a 55% and 65% we find countries like Mexico, Poland and Taiwan, and with less than 30% Spain, India and Italy. But this data is in percentage, which when translated to numbers changes substantially.

According to MPAA, Mexico could be the country which generates more losses to six big Hollywood studios: a total of 483 million dollars. This country is followed by Great Britain, with more than 400 millions and France, with losses estimated in 380 millions. 

Intellectual Property Rights Law 2015
The first day of 2015 entered into force a new Intellectual Property law approved on October the 30th by the People's Party. This law toughens the pursuit against piracy, specially those illegal download websites  which upload copyright protected content. This way, providing links is punished. The streaming content is removed from the definition of private copy. This caused the removal of illegal links from those websites which were in the authorities' spotlight. The fines oscillate between 150.000 euros and 600.000.

Piracy's consequences
Piracy affects the creators, workers and State. On the one hand, it affects the creators because the illegal sell of their work alters the main source of their income. On the other hand it affects the workers of all cultural industries because piracy replaces the production of original projects and other products. Finally, the State finds itself affected because the activities related with piracy are performed on the fringes of the law and the established system, which has it's consequences, like the failure to collect the tax that would later be reinvested in cultural development. However, there always is the other side of the coin and that would be the existent theories and studies which defend the fact that movie piracy is not guilty of all ills of the cultural industries, even if it's an activity practiced on the fringe of the law. A study from the University of Kansas reveals surprising pieces of information about the impact that a pirated movie can actually cause on a movie premiere. Through the analysis of some of the most relevant piracy cases from recent years, the report reveals that not everything is as it seems. The same way a movie premiere can be jeopardized by the existence of an illegal copy of that movie shared on the Internet, it can also be favored.
 * Repercussions on creativity. Piracy can lead to the exodus of talented creators, which impoverishes many countries regarding the local creativity.
 * Repercussions on cultural industries and development. Piracy destroys the basis of the local cultural enterprises and influences negatively their elations with foreign associates. Moreover, it affects the legal industry, which can't compete justly because of the low prices compelled by the illicit activity. So, the economic progress is also affected by the piracy.
 * Repercussions on work. The pirated products cause a block in the legitimate industry which, in consequence, offers less and less jobs.

The inquiry claims that  the copies that appear on the Internet before the official release of those movies in theatres are of a distinguished inferior quality. This fact turns the anticipated availability of that movie into a worse option, even though cheaper. The effect that could be caused to the production, by general rule, is negative.

The estimated data presented in the report demonstrates that piracy 's impact, compared with those cases in which there are no illegal copies made, is weaker and no more than a superficial damage, even in the worse of the situations. The spectator, conscious of the lack of quality of the copy, in many cases prefers the original, which  will be played in a high quality movie theatre with an outstanding sound system.

But there is more, the report notifies the existence of special cases. There are occasions in which a previous pirate copy can benefit the original movie. The study specifies that there are examples of illegal copies that, uploaded to the Internet a few days before the premiere of the film can manage to create far more expectations, which motivate or lead forward to  success.